The hottest searches by far in December for my website have to do with Spanish Christmas songs and Christmas carols. There are many people searching for English songs that have been translated into Spanish, whether they be teachers looking to teach carols to their students, or people in general looking to learn another way to sing their favorite songs.

If you're looking for any Spanish Christmas songs or English Christmas carols that have been translated into Spanish, feel free to check out these Spanish Christmas songs.

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I am not a member of the American Translator's Association (ATA), never have been, and most likely will never be.

However, there are a lot of translators out there that are members of ATA. It makes me wonder, does being a member of ATA and paying all the dues and doing everything to maintain membership really help a translator build his/her client list and increase business?

It seems to me that while ATA does provide some good information for translators through conferences, publications, and their website, the cost for the that information is not worth it. I've known plenty of translators that have been unhappy with ATA and the way it portrays itself as the end all be all of translation certification in the U.S. What gave ATA the right to say whether a translator is good enough to translate?

It would be interesting to know what percentage of professional freelance translators are actually certified by ATA, as well as how many are members.

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This question had me baffled more than once when I was just starting out as a freelance translator. The web was becoming more and more popular and people were using it for more and more things, but could it work for translators?

Well, at first it seemed like a lot of freelancers didn't have websites; rather, the only people who had websites were the big translation agencies. However, as time has passed, I have realized that there is no reason why a translator should not have a website and every reason to have one.

One of the reasons why a translator should have a website is that a ton of people search online for translators and by having a website, you can receive some of that traffic and direct people to your services directly, essentially cutting out having to go through a translation agency for work.

Another way a website can help is by giving a translator more credibility not only to clients but to also translators. A (professional) website is just another tool that a translator can use to increase business and become better as a professional.

I was nervous when I thought about putting a website together because it just seemed so daunting a task. However, I was fortunate that I found a hosting company (and so much more) that helped me know how to get my site together and present it in a way that could be beneficial to me and my clients. SiteBuildIt helped me take my freelance translation business to a whole new level, and if it can help me, it can surely help anyone out there wanting to increase their client base.

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This question had me baffled more than once when I was just starting out as a freelance translator. The web was becoming more and more popular and people were using it for more and more things, but could it work for translators?

Well, at first it seemed like a lot of freelancers didn't have websites; rather, the only people who had websites were the big translation agencies. However, as time has passed, I have realized that there is no reason why a translator should not have a website and every reason to have one.

One of the reasons why a translator should have a website is that a ton of people search online for translators and by having a website, you can receive some of that traffic and direct people to your services directly, essentially cutting out having to go through a translation agency for work.

Another way a website can help is by giving a translator more credibility not only to clients but to also translators. A (professional) website is just another tool that a translator can use to increase business and become better as a professional.

I was nervous when I thought about putting a website together because it just seemed so daunting a task. However, I was fortunate that I found a hosting company (and so much more) that helped me know how to get my site together and present it in a way that could be beneficial to me and my clients. SiteBuildIt helped me take my freelance translation business to a whole new level, and if it can help me, it can surely help anyone out there wanting to increase their client base.

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First of all, it goes without saying that every translator needs to have a website. (OK, if you've already got enough steady clients to keep you busy until you retire, I guess you don't need one) but for those who are always looking for new clients, a website is a must.

Owning a website, however, doesn't necessarily get you anywhere closer to having people find you. One of the ways you can get others to your site is through linking with other websites related to translation. Are there any resources you find particularly helpful in your translation work? Why not link to them and let others benefit from the resource.

Another way you can build links in and out of your site is to link to the webpages of other translators. Now whenever I mention this, translators usually start to get a little nervous and think (erroneously I might add) that they are going to lose business when linking to other translators.

Nothing could be a bigger myth. First of all, if you are a Spanish-English translator, for instance, what harm is there in linking to a fellow translator whose language combination is Swahili-Russian? Are they going to steal business from you? I don't think so.

Even linking to another translator with the same language combination is many times OK when the translators have different areas of specialty.

So what good can come from this? Well, first of all, your (potential) clients will trust that you are confident enough in your work to pass it along to someone else when it doesn't fit your particular skill set. Secondly, you are passing work to someone you (hopefully) trust and thus making the client that way. When they need work done in your language combination, they are more likely to come back to you. Finally, by collaborating with other translators, you might get some work sent your way from another translator linking to you from his/her site. It really is a win-win for everyone.

It just takes some willingness to overcome this selfish desire that we have as translators to keep everything for ourselves.

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It seems like one of the hardest things for any entrepreneur is to get paid for the work that they've done. Translators are no different. I don't think I've ever met a translator who's had at least some trouble getting an invoice taken care.

Most people will tell you that this is the reason contracts are so important. However, contracts don't always ensure that you'll get paid without a hassle. All it means is that it will take you forever and a day to get the contract enforced, and that's after spending all sorts of time, money and energy to get there. It can be a pain for sure.

So how do you know that a client will be one that you can count on to pay you? I don't think there's a surefire way you can ever know. I mean, sure, there's signs you can look for but none of them are definite indicators. I think the best thing you can do is make sure you don't do a significant amount of work before you get paid for it. If a client has a lot of work to give you, it's best to divide it up and get paid per section that you do.

I've done this ever since I started translating and I've never got burned for any huge amount. Sure you might get stiffed $100 bucks at most, but if you divide up the work and the payment, you should never lose more than that amount.

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Something that I've wanted to do for a long time is now available on spanish-translation-help.com

Web 2.0 has now made its way to the site, and why is that so cool you ask? Well, first of all, it's a way for translators and others interested in translation to actually add their own thoughts and comments to the website, making it more interactive and bringing translators closer together as a community (which we know isn't always the easiest thing to do).

I'm only in the beginning stages so there's still a lot of work to do to make it a permanent fixture on the site, but if you're interested, you can see how it works at the page on Bad Translation Pictures.

If you've got any pictures you'd like to add, go for it!

I'm back from the dead

So it's been a while (yeah, I guess you could consider more than a year a while) but now I'm back and will be posting more information about translation in general and language issues.

So what have I been up to this last year? Well, my website www.spanish-translation-help.com has been doing pretty good lately and for the first time, I finally reached a thousand unique visitors in a single day!

I'm pretty proud about that. Obviously.

New Page Added

I just finished adding a new page to the main Spanish Translation help site. The page is about language interpretation with a short introduction about some of the different types of interpretation.

I am not an interpreter but I thought it would be good to add a little introduction to the industry for those interested.

SES Latino 2006 Roundup

Today in my searches I came across some pretty good information on the Search Engine Strategies Latino 2006 Conference held recently. This conference was two days and had seperate panels and talks talking about various opportunities in the Latino market for Internet marketers, as well as different issues for Spanish and Portuguese language marketers.

If you have any contact at all with the Spanish or Portuguese speaking market, you will definately benefit by reading the coverage given to these sessions held over a period of two days.

Here are the titles of the different sessions:

Day One:
+ The Opportunity: Tapping Into US Hispanics & Latin America Via Search
+ Search Landscape: US Hispanics
+ Search Landscape: Latin America
+ The Challenges Of Search Marketing To US Hispanics & Latin Americans

Day Two:
+ Translate Or Create: Strategies For Those With English-Language Sites
+ Domain Issues - Latin American Version
+ Spanish / Portuguese Language Ad Issues
+ SEO & Spanish / Portuguese Language Issues

audio spanish translator

One of the biggest problems for soldiers on the battle field is the lack of adequate audio Spanish translators. In Iraq, for example, there aren't enough good translators to help all of the coalition forces to communicate with the local Iraqi people.

 

Well, Stanford University has come up with an improved audio Spanish translator that uses the latest speech technology to facilitate communication. While the device is definitely not perfect, it does seem to be an interesting tool that could help not only save the lives of soldiers, but also of translators that are targeted by terrorists. Anything that does that will definitely be worth it.

Spanish Software - Firefox

Translators are always on the lookout for Spanish software tools that will help them in their translation business. One of the tools that you probably already have is the Firefox Internet browser. I downloaded this software a while ago, but just recently decided to download the Spanish version.

 

The Spanish version is basically the same as the English one, but one thing I did notice is that when you move your cursor over a word, the translation of the word pops up in a little window. At first it seems like a cool little device for someone that might not be able to understand what they read in English. However, for someone who already has a pretty good command of English and Spanish, it can get a little annoying. I'm sure there is a way to turn it off, but I haven't really gotten around to that yet.

 

Anyways, this Spanish software is interesting and if you haven't downloaded it yet, give it a try.

 

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A new A.I.-based guessing game

This post isn't necessarily about Spanish language, but I have to tell anyone who will listen about a cool website I ran across a little awhile ago. The name of the website is www.20q.net and it contains an online version of the classic game, 20 Questions.

 

The game is based on artificial intelligence technology and does an incredible job of guessing what you've thought of. There are different categories you can start in, either Sports, TV & Movies, or Rock and Pop. The first time I tried it, I played the Sports version and the A.I. engine behind the website figured out  who I thought of in about 17 questions. (I was thinking of Dale Murphy, the long-time all-star from the Atlanta Braves).

 

One of the cool things about the site is that you can choose to have the game presented in various languages with Spanish being one of them. So if you've got some time (you might need more than you think because you won't be able to stop with one game) give it a whirl and try it out. I think you'll enjoy it.

Altavista Spanish Translation

Yesterday I wrote a little about some of the free Spanish translators online. One of the more popular ones in use today is the Altavista Spanish translation engine.

 

The Altavista Spanish translation engine is actually referred to as the Babel Fish Translation service and one of the things I like about this website is that it is actually pretty clean and straightforward. Lots of websites have the incorrect assumption that more is better when in fact, most people just want to be able to find the information they are looking for relatively easy without having to search all over the place. Think Google's home page. A great example of keeping your page to a minimum.

 

So back to Altavista's translation page. While it doesn't have the capability to translate every language pair you could possibly think of, it does have a good number of combinations for you to choose from. You can also put in a website URL and choose the language combination you want to translate it with.

 

Another somewhat unique capability of the Altavista Spanish translation engine is that you can put it directly on your website. I've never really been a fan of putting a translation engine on my website but I'm sure that many people have found them useful. It would be interesting to know how many people use these and if visitors to their sites really find them useful. In the meantime, you can visit the Babelfish site to get a translation.

Spanish Translation for Free

Many people online search for translators that are capable of providing Spanish translations for free. There are a few of these websites that offer free online Spanish translators and they offer an interesting look into the world of automatic translation. Some of the more popular translators that offer Spanish translation for free are Altavista's Babelfish, Google's translator, the WorldLingo translator, and the translator from El Mundo.

 

While these translators are good at providing (most of the time) a general idea of what the text is about that you are feeding through the free translator, they are definately not good enough for professional services.

 

Awhile ago, I tried a little experiment on the translation capabilities of these translators that offer Spanish translation for free. It was an interesting exercise in how these translators behave and you might find it interesting. The page can be found at my free Spanish translation site. Check it out and tell me what you think.

Canadian National Anthem: Translation Issue

Before people in the United States was even concerned about the issue of the national anthem being translated into another language, our neighbors to the north have dealt with the issue of having their national anthem translated into two languages, namely French and English.

One of the biggest issues of the Canadian national anthem is that the differenent versions also have different meanings. These different meanings, according to one reporter, reflect different Canadian attitudes. Now, I'm not from Canada and don't know much about Canadian attitudes and politics, but it is interesting to see how one national anthem in two different languages can have such a difference and how these differences can reflect different feelings.

Here's the French version:
O Canada, land of our forefathers, Your brow is crowned with glorious garlands, Because your arm knows how to carry the sword, It knows how to carry the Cross. Your history is an epoch of brilliant exploits And your valor of tempered faith will protect our homes and our rights.

Here's the English version:
O Canada! Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
From far and wide, O Canada,
We stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee!

World Cup Translation Recruitment

I just read an article about the U.S. military recruiting Arabic translators using advertisements showing during World Cup matches. I guess they have had pretty good success, especially during the Iran-Mexico game a couple of weeks ago.

You can see the videos here. They're pretty interesting.

Regardless of what you think of the U.S. or it's military, you have to admire the way they used this media to get recruits. It makes me wonder how I can use things that are going on the world today to get more clients. What current events can you use to increase and improve your business.

Tags: Arab translation, world cup, recruitment

Do you speak Arabic and English?

If so, there's an organization called ElectronicIraq that is looking for you to help translate various documents from the Iraqi media. According to the website:

Electronic Iraq is actively expanding its commitment and capacity to bring news, views, and voices from Iraq to a worldwide audience. To achieve this end, Electronic Iraq must translate articles, analyses, Op Eds, and human-interest stories from the Iraqi media. We are currently seeking experienced and dependable translators for this project, and hope to give special attention to the translation of Arabic posts to our acclaimed "Iraq Diaries" section. In addition, we are seeking the assistance of individuals who are able and willing to transcribe interviews from Arabic in to English.

Sounds like an interesting proposition that would be worthwhile to check out.

Tags: arabic jobs, arabic translation

The Need for an "Urban Translator"

I just barely found this article from the Chicago Sun-Times about a gang member who is on trial and now needs one of his buddies to serve as an "urban translator" to help bridge the "cultural gap" between the courtroom and the gang-ridden streets.

It seems a bit over the top for me. According to the article, the "translator" is needed to help the defendant understand that he shouldn't shout in court and attack his attorneys. Interesting.

Tags: court translation, legal translation

Hispanics and Marketing

There is a good article at Ecommerce Times about hispanics and marketing. The author makes a good point that just having a few products or services translated into Spanish is not the end all be all of having a good Hispanic campaign.

 

I think the author makes two very valid points about marketing to the Hispanic population. The first is that, just with everything else in marketing, you have to know your market. If you don't market to the right people, Spanish-speakers or not, you won't stand a chance.

 

The second point is extremely relevant and something that I have seen over and over again. You must have an infrastructure that can support Spanish-speaking customers. If you offer your product in Spanish, but then don't give the Spanish-speaking consumer the ability to call a bilingual help desk or read instructions in Spanish, that customer won't be yours for very long.

 

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